For all the thinking, the problems, the lucky choices, and the moments of panic, there are more complete notes over at Flickr. For larger individual images, see the photoset, or if you just want the overview check out the slideshow.

note: there are just too many photos of possible configurations of the pieces to include thumbnails here. Head over to Flickr and follow the photostream to see them all. Also, more notes, including which pieces are used in each configuration will eventually over there as well.

In summation:

Materials purchased:

• a deck of cards, which very handily had an image of an engraved pattern on the back, composed of several motifs
• a roll of magnetic sheeting, that stuff that super flat, thin promotional refrigerator magnets are made of, with a remove-able backing over self-stick adhesive
• thirteen donut shaped O-magnets (buy twelve of anything, get a thirteenth free!)
• eight rubber grommets, bought thinking about a back-up idea for joining pieces
• magic metallic design art kit: contained cardstock (which came in very handy), a glue pen, and sheets of metallic foil (would’ve been used more if I’d had more time to make extra add-on motifs and ‘jewels’

Total spent: $9.55

Materials actually used in final product: cards, magnetic sheeting, O-magnets, cardstock, just a bit of glue and foil

Tools used: exact-o knife, scissors, glue stick, books (to press things flat), pencil

Things I learned?

• don’t cut things out twice when you can cut them out once
• it’s a good thing to have extra glue sticks on hand (exact-o blades too!)
• buying cardstock even if you don’t know what you’ll use it for is never a bad thing
• having a back-up idea is good
• but sticking with your favorite idea is good too
• being brave enough not to buy the colored string as a safety net can produce unexpectedly satisfying results!

What was the idea behind the grommets?: Even when buying it, I was nervous that the magnetic sheeting wasn’t charged enough to stick to itself strongly enough. I bought the O-magnets as a back up, but didn’t really like the look of them against the card images. (I hadn’t thought of using smaller motifs as cover-ups for the O-magnets at that point.) So I wanted to have some sort of more reliable method of fastening the pieces together if the whole magnetic thing didn’t work out. I really wanted something that would work as a rivet, but I just didn’t find anything. (It’s really easy to get swallowed up and distracted at Ax-man!) So I grabbed the grommets thinking that I could cut holes in the card pieces at aesthetically pleasing spots and pop the pieces together with the grommets as a fastener. Don’t know if it would have worked. Might make the system a little more wearable, but the possible configurations would probably be more limited.

Things I did poorly:

• stupidly cut out each piece in detail both after mounting on cardstock and after applying to magnetic sheeting (should’ve just mounted all layers and cut out all layers just once)
• buying more O-magnets would’ve given me more possibilities
• I’m not happy with the edges, perhaps a different adhesive would keep the layers better laminated, and more time would allow me to cut more accurately
• didn’t finish as many add-on motifs and ‘jewels’ as I would’ve liked

Things I think I did well:

• identified a workable idea at the store and budgeted pretty well
• used time earlier in the week when I wasn’t able to work directly to brainstorm and play with the materials
• persevered in the face of illness
• managed my time pretty efficiently (a first!)
• predicted well how material could be manipulated
• recognized that I had a runway ready piece two hours before deadline (ironically, if I hadn’t changed the deadline time after last week, I still would’ve been done in time 🙂 )
• realized, finally, that I was cutting things out twice instead of just once after the pieces were composed
• didn’t have to resort to using the grommets or any non-surplus store items
• got a chance to finesse my idea a little more than in previous weeks
• got very inspired about a this idea

Evaluation of final piece:

• wearable?: yes, though I have to be honest, stronger magnets would be better. You couldn’t wear it in any very active situation, and many folks wouldn’t have the patience to futz with getting it put on. However, I was surprised at how quickly I was able to change and put on the different configurations when taking the photos.
• durable?: yes, the individual pieces are pretty durable, especially with the cardstock layer to compensate for the brittle nature of the magnetic sheeting. Extra waterproofing wouldn’t hurt.
• visual appeal?: I’m loving it right now! I’ve realized that these last two weeks I’ve produced pieces which were much more feminine than the glass work which I’d been doing in recent years. I’m feeling like my voracious interest in the entire range of jewelry history is really coming out with these challenges. ANY INPUT ON THIS POINT WOULD BE WELCOMED!
• concept?: I think it works! As I said it would be good to have stronger magnets and stronger magnetic sheeting. I could easily see myself continuing to make more pieces and more motifs and ‘jewels.’ ANY INPUT ON THIS POINT WOULD BE WELCOMED!

I think that’s it! Good lordy, these wrap-ups are getting long!

Alisa’s deadline is monday 5pm, so keeping checking on what she’s got going on here and here. I’m so excited, I love the suspense!

If anybody has felt drawn in to the fun, next weeks challenge is posted here. Who’s in?

For more on the challenge, see this weeks photoset
or all the One-a-Week Four posts here